


Miss Adventure

by wendelah1



Category: Lady Daisy - Dick King-Smith
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 12:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15863418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendelah1/pseuds/wendelah1
Summary: Lady Daisy Chain and Victoria, her new doll-mother, have an adventure.





	Miss Adventure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Deepdarkwaters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deepdarkwaters/gifts).



The day her parents presented her with Lady Daisy Chain, Victoria thought she might be the luckiest little girl in the world. Lady Daisy wasn't an ordinary doll. Lady Daisy could talk to her. She could think. She could remember everything about her life in the past. If Victoria asked her a question, to the best of her ability, Lady Daisy answered it. 

There was just one problem. Lady Daisy was quite old and fragile. She had to be treated with tender loving care.

"She first belonged to a little girl who lived a long, long time ago," Daddy explained

"Your great-great-great aunt Victoria," Victoria said. "I was named for her." 

"Don't interrupt, dear. Let your father finish speaking," her mother admonished her. 

"Sorry, Daddy."

"It's okay, Emily. Torie's just excited." Torie was her father's nickname for Victoria. "That's right, you are her namesake. Now, I was almost ten, really not much older than you, when I found her and my Gran gave her to me." 

Victoria was only four and a half. Ten years old? Why, he'd been practically a grownup!

"If you want to be able to pass her down to your own son or daughter someday, you will have to take extra good care of her. Do you think you can do that?" 

"Yes, Daddy." 

"Tell Ned that he needn't worry," said Lady Daisy. "Victoria will be an excellent doll-mother. She won't allow any harm to come to me."

"Daddy, Lady Daisy said you don't have to worry. I will take good care of her, just like you did." 

"That's what I'm worried about," Ned said under his breath, looking over at Emily.

~/~/~

Soon Lady Daisy and Victoria became nearly inseparable. Victoria insisted that Lady Daisy sit next to her at the table for every meal. The doll stood watch on a small plastic chair during Victoria's nightly bath. Lady Daisy even had her own cot right next to her doll-mother's bed. 

Unfortunately, following the rules meant her precious doll had to remain at home. Victoria couldn't bring Lady Daisy along on play-dates. There were no trips to the shops for Lady Daisy. No visits to the park to swing on the swings or watch soccer practice. She was what Mummy called "an inside toy." 

This afternoon, Victoria was hosting a tea party for Lady Daisy. Pooh Bear had been invited, and Eeyore, too. She only had four chairs and was worried that Eeyore might feel slighted by all of the attention Lady Daisy was getting. This meant that Piglet had been left off the guest list. Her mother had told her that her toys didn't have feelings—but how could she know for sure? Lady Daisy was special because she could talk. Maybe her other toys just couldn't say what they were thinking?

The little tea set had been a gift from her mother for her last birthday. It was real china, not plastic, with a black and white checkerboard pattern around the edge and a little girl with a watering can in the center. There were four plates, four saucers, four tea cups, a teapot, a creamer and a sugar bowl with a lid. Victoria loved it.

"Would you like some sugar with your tea, Pooh?" Since Pooh didn't speak, she answered for him. "No, thank you, Victoria. Is there honey?" 

The miniature honey pot was just as empty as the teapot but pretend honey was better for Pooh Bear, her mother had assured her. "Real honey would turn him into a big sticky mess." She added some pretend honey into his cup of pretend tea. 

"How do you like your tea, Lady Daisy?" 

Lady Daisy had attended many, many tea parties. She didn't bother explaining that dolls couldn't drink tea. "With milk and sugar, Miss Victoria. Thank you." 

Victoria added imaginary milk and a lump of real sugar, which she had borrowed from the bowl her parents kept on the dining table, into the teacup. Using her Mickey Mouse spoon, she stirred the teacup. She only had one Mickey Mouse spoon. Pooh Bear, Lady Daisy, and Eeyore couldn't hold a spoon, so it didn't matter one bit to them. 

Just as Victoria was about to serve Eeyore, her mother came into the room carrying a small suitcase. 

"Victoria, it's time to put your toys away. I need to get your things packed for our trip tomorrow." 

Victoria frowned. Couldn't her mother see that she was busy? "Eeyore prefers two lumps of sugar but no milk," she told Lady Daisy. She took two more borrowed sugar lumps and dropped them into his cup. 

"Yes, he has quite a sweet tooth," Lady Daisy said. "Even for a donkey."

After Victoria ignored her mother's second request to stop playing, Lady Daisy spoke up. "Victoria. Don't you think you should listen to your mother?" 

"Oh, bother," Victoria muttered. She settled Pooh and Eeyore next to Piglet on the foot of her bed where they slept. "Mummy? I want to take Lady Daisy with us to visit Granny and Grandpa."

Her mother stopped folding T-shirts and looked over at her daughter. "You know the rules. Lady Daisy stays here. Why don't you bring Pooh Bear instead?" 

"He'll be lonely without Piglet. And Lady Daisy would really like to go," Victoria wheedled.

"It would be lovely to see the estate again," Lady Daisy allowed. 

"Why not bring Eeyore then? Your dad thought we might stop at the Donkey Sanctuary on the way." Her mother took a blue jumper out of the dresser and placed it in the suitcase next to the T-shirts.

"No. Not _that_ one. My pink jumper." Her mother put the blue jumper back in the drawer and placed the pink one into the case. "But I don't want to bring Eeyore. I want to bring Lady Daisy."

"I'm not going to say it again: the answer is still no. Pick another toy. What about one of your little animal families? The Grunts, perhaps or...what are the tiny elephants called again?"

"The Trunks." This was so unfair. Victoria had tried this same argument many times before and had always lost. There was no way to make her mother understand. Victoria heaved a long, dramatic sigh. But she was nearly five years old, too grown up a girl to throw a tantrum about it. She would have to make the best of it. "May I bring their cottages? And their furniture?"

Her mother added Victoria's pants and socks to the suitcase. "You may bring whatever will fit into your backpack. Now, for the last time, finish putting your toys away so I can start your bath."

"Yes, Mummy," Victoria said. "I'm sorry, Lady Daisy. I tried," she whispered.

"I know. Perhaps I'll be able to accompany you next time." 

~/~/~

"Torie!" Ned called from downstairs. "It's time to go."

"Coming, Daddy." Victoria unzipped her Barbie backpack and added two more Trunks, big sister Nellie and little brother Ivor. 

"Victoria! Do I need to come upstairs?" said her mother. 

"No! I'm coming." She looked at Lady Daisy, who was still asleep in her cot. All of a suddent, she upended her backpack, and the Trunks and the Grunts, and their cottages and furnishings came tumbling out. "There." She scooted over to Lady Daisy's cot, lowered the side, and pulled off the blanket and quilt. She placed the quilt on the floor, and ever so gently lifted up Lady Daisy.

The doll's eyes opened wide. "Victoria, how lovely to see you again. How was the journey? You must..." 

"Sh-ssh. Don't say anything." Of course Victoria knew that adults couldn't hear Lady Daisy but sometimes she forgot. "We haven't gone anywhere yet." She couldn't leave Lady Daisy behind. She just couldn't. Victoria hugged the doll. "I've decided. You're coming with me." 

"Ned!" Mummy called out. "Would you please go get your daughter? She is having trouble following directions."

Victoria grasped her backpack and slid the doll in feet first, then covered her with the quilt. She was struggling with the zipper when her father appeared in the doorway. 

"You need help with that?" Her dad cocked his head and waggled his eyebrows.

"No! I can do it myself." Just as he was about to step into the room, she yanked the zipper closed "See?" 

"Yes, Torie. Let's go, shall we?"

She slung the backpack over her shoulder and held out her hand. "I'm ready."

 

Her mother _had_ said that she could bring any toy that would fit into her backpack.

~/~/~

Victoria had been nearly three years old when her great-grandmother died. Not long after, her grandparents moved to the country and she and her parents had moved to their old flat in the city. It seemed like a long, long time ago. She could barely remember living anywhere else. 

Usually they stopped at the Donkey Sanctuary on the way to visit her grandparents. This time she had convinced her parents to skip it. She loved to pet the donkeys but it was more important to get Lady Daisy to her grandparents' house without her parents finding out. She had put the backpack on the seat next to her, being careful to keep it flat. She fretted that the doll might wake up while she was still in the backpack. She didn't want to frighten Lady Daisy, but she couldn't take the chance of talking to her, let alone playing with her.

Or could she? 

Just like always, her mother had fallen asleep listening to the story playing on the iPod. Was it _Peter Pan and Wendy_? She listened. Yes. That one was a bit dull—all of those stupid Lost Boys—so it was no wonder that Mummy was snoring.

She eyed the backpack. Maybe she could pull the pack onto her lap, unzip it and ease the doll out just enough to talk with her. She could even hold Lady Daisy up to the window so she could see. Lady Daisy would like that very much.

Daddy was busy being the driver. He wouldn't be paying attention to her. As long as her mother remained asleep, this plan would work. 

It would have, too, if her arms had been just a bit longer. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't grasp the pack. She groaned in frustration. This stupid booster seat! 

"What's wrong, Torie?" 

"Nothing, Daddy." Her dad had long arms. Could he get it for her? It couldn't hurt to ask. "I can't reach my backpack." 

"I'd rather not stop now. Your mother is asleep. Can't it wait until we get to where we're going? It won't be long," he encouraged. 

"I can wait." She slumped down as far as possible in the rigid booster seat. It wasn't like she had a choice.

~/~/~ 

Victoria loved visiting the country estate. There was a garden with flowers and vegetables, fruit trees, a pond that sometimes had ducks but never fish. Her grandmother kept chickens and her grandfather kept a small herd of black and white cows he called "my Belties." 

This visit, Victoria couldn't stop thinking about Lady Daisy, who was still hidden away in her backpack. When she visited Grandmother's chickens, she thought how much Lady Daisy would enjoy them, too. When she went with Grandfather to see his Belties, she wondered if Lady Daisy had ever seen a cow with a big wide white belt around its middle. At teatime, she wished that Lady Daisy could be sitting next to her. 

That evening during dinner, her mother and father talked about their work and the weather. Her grandparents talked about what they were planting this week and what they'd watched on the telly. 

"Victoria, you're so quiet tonight. Normally, you're such a chatterbox," her grandmother said. "Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine," she said. I want Lady Daisy, she did not say. 

After dinner, Victoria asked to be excused and went up to the bedroom where she always slept when visiting her grandparents. She unzipped the backpack and took out Lady Daisy. 

"Hello, Victoria."

She hugged her doll. "I missed you so much." 

"Has it been that long? You don't appear any older," Lady Daisy observed.

"It's been a whole day," Victoria said. It had seemed like forever.

"Not long at all then. Is this the same room that your father always stayed in when he was a boy?" Although it had been years since Lady Daisy had visited the estate, she took the changes in stride. The floral wallpaper was gone, replaced by walls the color of cream. The heavy drapes had been put away; blinds and curtains took their place. There was a reading nook by the window and a wicker basket filled with toys that had belonged to her dad when he was a little boy: games and puzzles, tiny cars, a box of Legos, and a wooden train set. 

Over the dresser, Grandmother had hung framed pictures of her family, including a photograph dating back to when Victoria was a newborn. During their last visit, her dad had held her up in order for her to see them. She held Lady Daisy over her head. "Can you see them now?"

"Indeed. You were a pretty baby, just like your namesake."

"Was I?" Victoria thought she looked small, red, and wrinkly. "At least I'm not a baby anymore. I can't wait to be a grown-up." 

"If I have learned anything about life, it is this: Nothing remains the same for long. The seasons change, kittens turn into cats, children grow older, as do their parents," Lady Daisy mused.. 

"Except you. You'll always be Lady Daisy, forever and ever." _Won't she?_

"I doubt I'm immortal, but I have managed to survive my share of misadventures."

Victoria wanted to know more about Miss Adventure but it was late. She looked over at the bedroom doorway, half-expecting her mother to be standing there, acting cross and getting ready to scold her. 

"I haven't seen your grandparents yet. Are they quite well?" Lady Daisy said.

"They're fine." Victoria cuddled her doll and smoothed her curls. "I haven't taken you downstairs to see them because...because..." This was hard. Somehow she knew Lady Daisy would not approve of what she'd done. 

"It would be better just to tell me, don't you agree?" Lady Daisy said kindly.

"I put you into my backpack and sneaked you into the car. Mummy and Daddy don't know...yet."

"I see. You broke a rule and deceived them in doing so."

"Yes. I did." Victoria held Lady Daisy tighter.

"You are afraid they'll find out the truth. You are dreading what will happen when they do."

"Yes," Victoria whispered. How did she know?

"That's called a guilty conscience." 

"Well, I don't like it!" Victoria closed her eyes, and whimpered.

"I would like to give you some advice, if you will permit me." 

Victoria opened her eyes. She held Lady Daisy at arm's-length. "If you must."

"This would be easier for both of us if you set me down, preferably at eye level." 

Victoria did her best to comply. She put Lady Daisy on the bed, propped her up with a pillow and lay down beside her. "Now what?"

"Thank you. That is so much better. Victoria, secrets and lies create disharmony, in families and individuals. You need to go to your parents and confess what you have done, without delay." 

"But I don't want to!" This wasn't her fault. That rule was dumb!

"That is the only thing that will make you feel better," Lady Daisy said. 

Victoria turned over onto her stomach and put a pillow over her head. "I won't do it!" 

"You won't do what?" said someone. Someone who was not Lady Daisy.

Victoria removed the pillow and rolled over, nearly falling off the bed in the process. Her grandmother was standing in the doorway. 

~/~/~

After much coaxing by Lady Daisy and her grandmother, Victoria agreed to tell her parents what she had done. Together they went downstairs to the kitchen where her parents and grandfather were visiting. Grandmother went first, carrying Lady Daisy. Victoria wouldn't take her grandmother's hand. Instead, she followed behind, dragging her feet and feeling glum. 

"Ned, Emily. Victoria has something she needs to say." Grandmother handed Lady Daisy to Victoria and pushed her gently forward. "Go on, dear."

"Tell the truth and say you're sorry. You'll feel much better, I promise," said Lady Daisy.

"Sorry, Mummy. Sorry, Daddy." Her mother didn't look as mad as she expected. To her surprise, her father didn't look angry at all.

Ned held out his arms. Victoria clambered onto his lap, still holding Lady Daisy. "Torie, I need to confess something, too. I've known since this morning that you'd brought Lady Daisy." He turned to his wife. "Emily, I owe you an apology. I should have said something before this." 

"Why didn't you? This makes me into the villain and that's not fair. I thought we were in agreement on this. The doll is a valuable antique, Ned." 

Her mother looked so disappointed and sad. Lady Daisy was wrong. Victoria didn't feel better at all. She wanted to cry. 

"I know, but she's much more than that. You know that as well as I do, Em."

"Not really. I only know what you've told me," Emily protested.

"This certainly is a lot of fuss to make over a doll," said her grandfather. 

"She's not just a doll, Grandpa," Victoria pleaded. "She's part of our family."

"That's right, Dad," Ned said firmly. 

"Maybe we'll need to change the rule then, about when Lady Daisy can be taken out, and where. Make it more flexible? What do you think, Ned?" Emily asked. Ned nodded in agreement.

"That sounds sensible to me," said Lady Daisy. "Your parents can discuss this later and come to a decision. Isn't it well past your bedtime, Victoria?"

"Lady Daisy thinks that sounds fine. Also, I need to go to bed now." Almost on cue, Victoria yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Finally. A sensible suggestion," her grandfather said.

"It was Lady Daisy's idea, Grandpa," Victoria said.

"Let me put her to bed," said her grandmother. "Say goodnight, dear."

Victoria gave her dad a kiss. "G'night, Daddy." She climbed down from his lap and gave her mother a kiss. "G'night, Mummy." She gave her grandfather a hug. "G'night, Grandpa." 

~/~/~

Lady Daisy was pleased. Victoria was back in her family's good graces, with a clean conscience to boot. There was no doubt that her beloved Ned would negotiate with Emily to obtain more freedom of movement for her. This would reduce friction between Victoria and her mother, and make everyone much happier in the long run. Victoria and Lady Daisy would get to spend many happy years together and, with a bit of luck, have some misadventures of their own. 

"Good night, everyone," said Lady Daisy.


End file.
